Globalization

International financial flows have declined significantly since 2008, and world trade is stagnating. Rather than portending a period of de-globalization, Sebastian Mallaby analyzes the data more closely to suggest a reset, not a reversal, of globalization.

InFailure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy, Council on Foreign Relations Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow Edward Alden explains why the political consensus in support of trade liberalization has collapsed, and how to correct the course. The United States has contributed more than any other nation to writing the rules that created the competitive global economy of today, helping support stronger growth in much of the world. Yet successive U.S. administrations have done far too little to help Americans succeed under those rules, says Alden.

When it comes to wealth and income, people tend to compare themselves to the people they see around them rather than to those who live on the other side of the world. The average Frenchman, for example, probably does not care how manyChinese exceed his own standard of living, but that Frenchman surely would pay attention if he started lagging behind his fellow citizens.

During a seemingly successful trip to Asia in November, Barack Obama announced several breakthroughs. Among them was a promise that the United States and Asian nations would proceed toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a free-trade deal that, if enacted, would create a free trade area with a total gross domestic product of more than $27 trillion.

"[G]lobalization is not merely an economic story. It is accompanied by the spread of freer and more inclusive elections to dozens of countries where they were previously banned or rigged. That has enabled the rise of populists who cater to globalization's losers and who promise to crush the old establishment and even out the rewards. In country after country, they've succeeded in monopolizing the political system. Hence, the elite revolt."

With a majority of the American public now saying that they view U.S. global power and influence as being in decline, Pew Research Center president Alan Murray and CFR President Richard N. Haass sit down to discuss the latest "America's Place in the World" survey.

With a majority of the American public now saying that they view U.S. global power and influence as being in decline, Pew Research Center president Alan Murray and CFR President Richard N. Haass sit down to discuss the latest "America's Place in the World" survey.

With a majority of the American public now saying that they view U.S. global power and influence as being in decline, Pew Research Center president Alan Murray and CFR President Richard N. Haass sit down to discuss the latest "America's Place in the World" survey.

Renewing America

Globalization refers to the increasing ease with which goods, services, capital and people can move across the world, which has been accelerated by advances in technology and government policies to reduce barriers. In terms of reducing poverty in as many countries as possible, there is no question that globalizationcontinues to be beneficial, even after the 2008 financial crisis. Poverty continues to fall worldwide at a rapid rate, and countries most integrated into the world economy have seen the biggest reductions in poverty. But it is also true that even before the crisis, the gains from globalization were not spread evenly. Though millions have been lifted out of poverty and everyone benefits from cheaper consumer goods and the opening of new export markets, there are still winners and losers.

Contrary to those who see a future of "globalization on steroids," Joshua Kurlantzick says the reality of today's economic slowdown is that it will leave as its legacy the worst degloblization in modern history.

With drug legalization increasingly debated by world leaders, CFR's Stewart Patrick and Phil Williams of the University of Pittsburgh discuss the explosion of transnational crime in a globalized world.

Globalization is widening the gap between what voters demand and what their governments can deliver. Unless the leading democracies can restore their political and economic solvency, the very model they represent may lose its allure.